Jess Lourey

Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime. Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means...

Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things. Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a...

By-the-book forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck and rogue BCA agent Van Reed must catch a cold-case killer who’s returned to abduct a small town’s children one by one in this heart-stopping novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things. In 1998 an Alku, Minnesota, family...

A woman’s secret. A small town with a dark past. A serial killer bent on revenge. Lies kill in a shocking true crime–inspired thriller by the Edgar-nominated author of The Quarry Girls.

Inspired by a terrifying true story, a heart-pounding novel of suspense about a small Minnesota town where nothing is as quiet - or as safe - as it seems. Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy...

An ITW Thriller Award and Anthony Award winner. Perfect town. Perfect homes. Perfect families. It’s enough to drive some women mad… In a tale inspired by real events, pregnant journalist Joan Harken is cautiously excited to follow her fiancé back to his Minnesota hometown. After spending a...

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "The deft prose is enlivened by action sequences, as well, which are sure to draw readers into the central mystery."—Kirkus Reviews Fans of The Hunger Games, The Grace Year, and The Maze Runner will devour The Verdant Cage―a chilling dystopian thriller...

Two murder investigations, decades apart, threaten to expose a cold case agent’s darkest secrets in a pulse-pounding thriller by the Edgar Award-nominated author of The Taken Ones. The bodies of three teenage girls are found in central Minnesota—each with her mouth fixed in a ghoulish grin...

Two agents on the trail of a serial killer. A mother and daughter on the trip of a lifetime. Fates converge in paradise in a chilling short story by an Amazon Charts bestselling author. Cold case expert Evangeline Reed and forensics legend Harry Steinbeck are on their way from Minneapolis to...

The Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline explores the darkness at the heart of the rural Midwest in a novel inspired by a chilling true crime. In the summer of ’84, fourteen-year-old Frankie Jubilee is shuttled off to Litani, Minnesota, to live with her...

Independence Day comes with fireworks, a budding romance, and hometown murder in this sharp and witty mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. When Fourth of July weekend coincides with Wenonga Days—the annual celebration of a locally famous Ojibwe leader—the town of Battle...

A terrible family curse threatens four generations of women in a spellbinding novel of haunting secrets, magic, and healing by the Edgar Award–nominated author of The Taken Ones. After her husband’s infidelity, devastated Katrine Blackthorn reluctantly returns to Faith Falls, Minnesota, to...

A waitress turned librarian just wants a new life. What she ends up with is a killer change of pace in a funny, snappy, and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. With a cheating boyfriend, a thankless career in waitressing, and her BA in English going to waste, Mira...

A confectioner’s talent works in wondrous ways in a bewitching short story about secrets, sisterhood, and the transformative power of magic by the Edgar Award–nominated author of The Taken Ones. The Blackthorn women have always possessed magic. For Helena, working at her candy store in the...

Going home for the holidays can be murder in a bracing mystery by Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. After more than a decade away, Mira James isn’t keen on returning to her Minnesota hometown for the holidays. Her childhood memories aren’t particularly...

Two disappearances and a murder. The mystery couldn’t be more personal in a witty and twisty rom-com caper from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. After a year in Battle Lake, Minnesota, aspiring PI Mira James would kill not to stumble over another dead...

The discovery of a frozen stiff reveals old buried secrets in a witty and invigorating mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. It may be six below zero, but an ice-skating jaunt gets even more chilling for private investigator in training Mira James...

Hunting season exposes deadly secrets in a briskly chilling rom-com mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. It’s cold enough to freeze a shadow when Battle Lake local Tom Kicker braves the killer temps to bag a deer—only to get shot to death by...

What’s October without a festive mood, a chill in the air, and a dead body? There’s big trouble brewing in little Battle Lake in this Lefty-nominated mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling author Jess Lourey. Cue the accordions: Battle Lake, Minnesota, is kicking off October Fest with polka...

There’s nothing like a harvest party, a book ban, and a shocking murder to keep a plucky librarian distracted in this funny and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. Mira James has had it up to here with Battle Lake, Minnesota. After her latest romantic prospects...